Xavier Aramis-sing shots. Due to MU's defense.

[tower912]

To me, the most impressive part of all of this is how all of the young guys are playing absolutely fearlessly on both ends.     IMO, this is the result of Shaka turning them loose from 3 early and living with the missed shots.    No punishment for taking open looks.   Eventually, they started working through their options on offense and realizing that sharing equals winning.    Figuring this out so quickly with this many young guys is the masterstroke of Shaka's coaching this year.     

[PointWarrior]

Shaka pissed in your cheerios when?  Most here did not think they had a snowball in hell’s chance to make the tourney.  They are playing outstanding but you will nitpick a potential loss in a tourney game most never thought they even had a chance to make.   

Ignore the massive other positive vibes about Shaka while you are at it as well besides the winning. 

The team is playing well but I’d like to see the same comment if MU loses a first round tourney game.

[MU82]

++ I'm still trying to figure out how a team that had just won 5 in a row, including 3 over ranked teams, including 1 just three days earlier at Nova where nobody wins, could be a home underdog. I kinda like it, though. I hope we're dogs again Wednesday. Woof! Woof!

++ Incredible game for JL. Not only hit 3s and scored inside but he pulled down some really tough rebounds in traffic. Those 13 were not "easy rebounds"! Playing like a first-round draft pick, and I'm really happy for him.

++ Stevie was the only MU defender who consistently stayed in front of Scruggs. Even Morsell had trouble with Scruggs, who had 3-4 blow-bys on Daryll. On the play that Kam swooped in and stole the ball from Scruggs, that was Stevie who stopped Scruggs in his tracks. It was nice to see Shaka give Stevie a good run, but even more it was nice to see Stevie earn that run.

++ Otherwise, another really nice game for Morsell, with 7 assists to go with his 19 points. His drive-and-kick to Greg for the open 3 came at an important juncture in the game. When Morsell is aggressive on offense, it just makes us such a tougher team to defend.

++ Kam has no conscience. He will shoot it any time from anywhere. He didn't even shoot very well today but still drained that Rowsey dagger at the end. He's gonna be a special player, and he's already pretty damn good.

++ We take two kinds of 3s. When we drive and dish to an open shooter, our percentage has to be through the roof. When we have to go off the dribble or if we force 'em, our percentage mostly sucks. Need more of the former, fewer of the latter. Of course, the same is true of every team.

++ Great game for Oso. Stood tall on defense, blocked out, and he plays his offensive role well. Given that Kuath just had his best game as a Warrior Eagle in our big win at Nova, it was interesting to see Kur get benched for most of the second half. Shaka, who has a really nice feel for apportioning minutes to his 5s, just decided to stay with him.

++ I liked the lead-holding lineup Shaka had out there at the end, all ballhandlers and FT shooters. The guys handled Xavier's pressure with ease.

++ Kolek with 7 more assists. He got himself in trouble a couple times when he drove into no-man's land, but he also hit on two nice drives.

++ There was a stretch where Xavier got any shot they wanted but Shaka cleaned that up. When we had to leave a guy open, we chose more wisely, and it was Nunge or Freemantle. Basketball's often about picking your poison -- and that was a good choice. We did a much better job of watching Kunkel and Johnson after that.

++ Hello, top 20!

++ What a fun team. You can see that these guys are just "getting it." They are better basketball players today than they were 2 months ago, and that's always a great sign. The elevator's gonna keep going up!

We Are Marquette!

[Elonsmusk]

The team is playing well but I’d like to see the same comment if MU loses a first round tourney game.

I'd make the same comment if they lose first round.  Shaka's taken an 11 seed to a Final Four.  Nothing our former coach did comes close to what Shaka has already accomplished.  Okay..the year of the Hauser/Markus implosion they won 8 Big East games in a row to teams ranked 55, 60, 65, 65, 72, 79, 100, 118.  And we lost to Number 100 Georgetown at home the last game of the year.

This 6 game stretch with wins over 56, 27, 7 and 21 is a little more impressive.

[Jockey]

++ Stevie was the only MU defender who consistently stayed in front of Scruggs. Even Morsell had trouble with Scruggs, who had 3-4 blow-bys on Daryll. On the play that Kam swooped in and stole the ball from Scruggs, that was Stevie who stopped Scruggs in his tracks. It was nice to see Shaka give Stevie a good run, but even more it was nice to see Stevie earn that run.

Good catch. Shaka put him in specifically to guard Scruggs. I doubt even Shaka thought he would do this good of a job. Stevie earned every minute he got today.

[NCMUFan]

It seemed the last two games that Villanova and Xavier had gotten wiser to Kolek's drive and dish.
The announcers said multiple times that Xavier wanted to make Kolek a scorer.
So, it was good to see that MU could win shooting from the outside.
If Kolek has good shots, he should take it.
Keep the defense honest.

Justin played fantastic again.

[tower912]

Yep, coaches are going to make adjustments in how they guard Kolek.    It looks to me like they are going attack him on defense, too.   
The eternal chess match. 

[MarquetteVol]

We played very well. I’ll take that every game.

I don’t disagree. I just never thought we hit the same gear we did in some of the previous games especially Nova. But we will win a ton of basketball games playing this way every night. It’s just awesome to know they’ve got a higher ceiling than was showed today

[Elonsmusk]

Yep, coaches are going to make adjustments in how they guard Kolek.    It looks to me like they are going attack him on defense, too.   
The eternal chess match.

Kolek is a very solid defender...despite some wanting to suggest he isn't.  Opposing coaches wanting to make him work harder on D is good strategy, however.

[tower912]

I agree.   But opposing coaches keep attacking him. 

[1SE]

I don’t disagree. I just never thought we hit the same gear we did in some of the previous games especially Nova. But we will win a ton of basketball games playing this way every night. It’s just awesome to know they’ve got a higher ceiling than was showed today

We shot like 40% fro  three. Well win the BE if we do that every night. But we wont - but the nice thing about this team is we have eays other than Markus scoring 50 to win

[1SE]

The crazy thing is that if we would have kept rebounding like we did for 5 or so minutes in the first half we would've won by 20

[ChuckyChip]

Good catch. Shaka put him in specifically to guard Scruggs. I doubt even Shaka thought he would do this good of a job. Stevie earned every minute he got today.

Just got back from the game...glad that Mitchell's contributions were mentioned...thought he had his best game at MU today...solid at both ends of the floor, especially defensively.

[MU82]

I'd make the same comment if they lose first round.  Shaka's taken an 11 seed to a Final Four.  Nothing our former coach did comes close to what Shaka has already accomplished.  Okay..the year of the Hauser/Markus implosion they won 8 Big East games in a row to teams ranked 55, 60, 65, 65, 72, 79, 100, 118.  And we lost to Number 100 Georgetown at home the last game of the year.

This 6 game stretch with wins over 56, 27, 7 and 21 is a little more impressive.

The comment you responded to wasn't about Wojo.

Shaka hasn't won an NCAAT game in 8 years. In sports, his Final Four was a lifetime ago. The loss that made him available to Marquette was one of the more embarrassing tournament choke-jobs by any team in recent years.

But I share your optimism that he's doing a great job at Marquette, and I am to the point now where I expect excellence, both in the regular season and the tournament. I feel confident that he, and his players, will deliver ... but I'm gonna enjoy the journey without worrying so much about the destination. There will be plenty of time for that.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I'd make the same comment if they lose first round.  Shaka's taken an 11 seed to a Final Four.  Nothing our former coach did comes close to what Shaka has already accomplished.  Okay..the year of the Hauser/Markus implosion they won 8 Big East games in a row to teams ranked 55, 60, 65, 65, 72, 79, 100, 118.  And we lost to Number 100 Georgetown at home the last game of the year.

This 6 game stretch with wins over 56, 27, 7 and 21 is a little more impressive.

He never brought up Wojo.  Why do you keep doing so?

[Mr. Nielsen]

I never got an answer to my question of who the color guy was.  Crazy that an announcer is old enough, or should that be young enough, to chose his basketball number because of Travis Diener.

Your answer is always in the top pinned thread. 

[1SE]

Just got back from the game...glad that Mitchell's contributions were mentioned...thought he had his best game at MU today...solid at both ends of the floor, especially defensively.

What was up with the crowd tonight? 2 minutes left, up 6 but game still very much in the balance and it looked like the sweater vests in the lower bowl were watching the opening round of Olymoic ping pong or something.

[mug644]

By my count, that's 8 straight games with someone scoring 20 or more, spread across 5 players. Lewis has 4, then Prosper, Morsell, Elliott and Oso each with 1.

[MUEng92]

Your answer is always in the top pinned thread. 

Hey, look at that.  Thanks

[TallTitan34]

All of my team thoughts have already been mentioned above so I’d like to compliment the officiating today.  Thought they had a great game.

I’d also like to compliment whoever filled in for Mike J on the PA. Enjoyed his call.

[pbiflyer]

All of my team thoughts have already been mentioned above so I’d like to compliment the officiating today.  Thought they had a great game.

I’d also like to compliment whoever filled in for Mike J on the PA. Enjoyed his call.

Was listening to the radio broadcast. Homer out sick. Whoever the play by play guy was was awful. Tony kept having to jump in with actual details.

[Jockey]

We shot like 40% fro  three. Well win the BE if we do that every night. But we wont - but the nice thing about this team is we have eays other than Markus scoring 50 to win

I agree that we won’t. But, we won’t shoot as bad as early in the season either. The passing is better and guys have learned when to take 3s. Even Kam who has the mindset of an assassin.

[GooooMarquette]

Good catch. Shaka put him in specifically to guard Scruggs. I doubt even Shaka thought he would do this good of a job. Stevie earned every minute he got today.

Completely agree on this point. Stevie is an elite-level defender who will be a special player when the offensive end slows down for him.

[pbiflyer]

Marquette held X to 8 points over the last 11 minutes of the game.

[The Equalizer]

So, did anyone foresee 6 Q1 wins at this point?

Warning: I will cal you a liar if you answer yes. 

I don't know about Q1 wins, but we're right where I thought we would be in conference play based on who we played and where we played them.

I thought we could reasonably get to 11 wins in conference, based on these expectations:

4 losses (2 each) to UConn and Villanova
6 wins (2 each) against DePaul, Butler & Georgetown
Season splits with Xavier, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, and Creighton, winning the home game and losing on the road.

So while I predicted a loss at Villanova, I also expected a win against Creighton at home. 

@Xavier - Expected L, Actual L
Uconn - Expected L, Actual L
Creighton - Expected W, Actual L
Providence - Expected W, Actual W
@Georgetown - Expected W, Actual W
DePaul - Expected W, Actual W
Seton Hall - Expected W Actual W
@Villanova - Expected L, Actual W
Xavier - Expected W, Actual W